Play and Learn Weekly – Mar.31th, 2013 (#GBL)

News

As part of the National STEM Video Game Challenge, Global Kids youth leaders in the Playing for Keeps program designed and led game design workshops that will reach over 200 New York City youth at more than ten Hive NYC institutions. They held two different types of sessions. The first showcased game design concepts and introduced participants to gamestarmechanic.com, a game platform designed specifically for learning how to create games. The second workshop taught participants how to pitch their game design ideas to an expert panel of game gurus from E-Line Media and other game design companies like BrainPop….

Pennsylvania State University’s Education Gaming Commons (EGC) takes a broad approach to the study of games, says project manager Chris Stubbs. “We build educational games from scratch around specific learning objectives; we’ll help faculty use commercial games; we do research around games,” Stubbs says. Most recently, the EGC has joined the phenomenon of gamification by adding game-like elements to the classroom experience.

The game is called Hakitzu. It’s out this week, the first release from Kuato Studios, a startup based in London and Palo Alto that has assembled a formidable developer team, including SRI, the people who built the iPhone’s Siri, and game designers formerly from Sony Playstation, Idea Works, Blitz, Konami, and more. But Hakitzu isn’t just another versus fighter. Instead of using a touchpad or other controller to play, I have to type in a set of command lines that tell the robot what to do: walk forward, walk back, turn around, and so on. Without really knowing it, I’m learning to code Javascript while I fight. Kuato is trying to redefine what learning games are by making the game come first.

Bookmarks

Game development has exploded over the last few years, and now it seems like everyone is making a video game. You’ve got big studios full of hundreds of people. You’ve got small teams making incredible games. There are more people in independent game development than ever. This is an amazing thing, because everyone brings their unique experience and sensibilities to game design.

Publications

Lincoln C. Wood (Lincoln.Wood@aut.ac.nz) and Torsten Reiners (t.reiners@curtin.edu.au) are working with Springer on editing a book provisionally entitled ‘Gamification in Education and Business’. We plan for this to become a core body of research in this expanding area that people will turn to as a first reference in the coming years. The volume will cover a range of theoretical foundations for gamification in one volume, integrate these, and present several design and implementation concepts, while also discussing the possible negatives of using gamification and presenting some case studies.

TechNavio’s analysts forecast the Global Game-based Learning market to grow at a CAGR of 15.6 percent over the period 2012-2016. One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the growth in mobile-based educational games. The Global Game-based Learning market has also been witnessing the growth in gamification market. However, the limitations in commercial developments could pose a challenge to the growth of this market.

“Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I will understand.” -------- Chinese Wisdom
"Games are the most elevated form of investigation." -------- Albert Einstein

"I'm calling for investments in educational technology that will help create digital tutors that are as effective as personal tutors, educational software as compelling as the best video game," President Barack Obama said while touring a tech-focused Boston school (year 2011).